Fricassée

A Fricassée is a white stew with a creamy sauce, usually with meat in it.

The meat is usually poultry, veal, lamb, rabbit, or frog legs. In the American south the meat can even be groundhog, possum, rabbit, or chipmunk.

The meat is cut up into pieces. Sometimes the meat is then dredged in flour, sometimes not. It is then lightly sautéed in butter, but not enough to brown the meat. This light frying is also referred to as "stiffening" the meat (aka "raidir.") This part is done carefully, so that it doesn't colour. Then, the meat is cooked more fully by simmering it in a liquid (stock, possibly with white wine). The liquid is then thickened with flour, sometimes cream as well, to make a creamy white sauce.

Other ingredients usually include pearl onions and mushrooms lightly cooked on their own first and added towards the end.

Fricassée de porc à la Genevoise is an exception to the rule of Fricassées being white. Instead of being white, it's dark, from red wine and pork blood in it.

History Notes

Historically, Fricassée main ingredients could also have been liver or just vegetables.

In the 18th century, Fricassée meant anything "cut into pieces for stewing in a sauce."

Language Notes

One theory is that the word "fricassée" comes from two French words: "frire", meaning "to fry", and "casser", meaning to "break" (though it's not overly clear how break comes into this theory's equation, unless somehow it's assumed that it's associated with chopped-up meat.)

Food Calendar

The Doll Festival is an unofficial, fun holiday in Japan, mostly for small girls. In Japanese, the holiday is called "Hina matsuri" ("Hina" means a "doll" in Japanese.) Girls arrange their collection of dolls for proud display on tiered stands in their living rooms.